Parental causes of death in primary intracerebral haemorrhage

There are many reports of familial aggregation in stroke. Previously, exami ning parental causes of death, we found no evidence for familial risk in st roke once socioeconomic and socioenvironmental factors were controlled for. However, the number of patients with primary intracerebral haemorrhage (PI CH) was small in this sample and we could not exclude a moderate effect of familial factors in this important subgroup. We therefore matched all cases with PICH on the Lothian Stroke Register with 2 controls per case of the s ame sex, born in the same year, district, and whose fathers had the same oc cupation. Presence on parental death certificates of cerebrovascular diseas e, other vascular disease, bronchial carcinoma, hypertension, diabetes mell itus and other causes of death was recorded. No significant difference in r isk was found for cases with parental cerebrovascular disease (OR 0.75, 96% Cl 0.40-1.40). Other forms of vascular disease in parents were not associa ted with significant risk either (OR 0.93, 95% Cl 0.51-1.68). We conclude t hat familial factors do not contribute substantially to risk in most cases of PICH. Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel.